Surprise, surprise, the "Art Of The Deal" couldn't negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag with a compass, a pair of scissors and a flashlight.
While I think Trump's leadership was a factor in this failure, most of the fail belongs to the party itself. The party is a mix of a few moderates with a strong stomach, the Priebus faction (which is pretty far right, actually, but forms most of the party) and the Tea Baggers, er, Freedom Caucus (or whatever they'll end up calling themselves next week) which are the real extremists in the party. All of them have embraced a very draconian ideology: that small government can do little good but is a necessary evil, that low taxes stimulate growth, and that more money in the hands of the rich will eventually trickle down to the rest of us. This is combined with racism, an a priori assumption of American superiority, deep seated racism, and a belief that hard work is THE most determinate factor in wealth creation. Finally, there's a wrapping over it all of Christian dominionism. Part of this doctrine is a deep distrust knowledge and science. Evidence in conflict with these ideas is instantly and vehemently dismissed as biased - even evil.
Thus, we have a Republican party that has pitifully allowed their thinkers to atrophy, or they have fled the party. The part of the party that used to construct and analyze policy and present it for consideration has withered as it repeatedly came up against the realities of economics and history, and then lost because it conflicted with this ideology. Thus any proposed legislation is by these morons, or actually written by corporate lobbyists. Most time spent by our congress is spent raising money for re-election, allowing no time for study of policy or writing of new policy in any case.
Look at that last bill. It's an insult to every American's intelligence to begin with, but then it just got down right ludicrous. Did you see the changes made to the bill in order to entice the "Freedom Caucus" to back it?
Note these changes would have been to insurance in general, not just Obamacare. It would have ELIMINATED law mandating coverage by policies in the following areas:
Outpatient Care
Emergency Services
Hospitalization
Maternity/Pregancy & Newborn Care
Mental Health & Substance Abuse Disorders
Prescription Drugs
Rehabilitative & Habilitative
Lab Services
Preventative Services
Pediatric Services
Seriously, only their own stupidity allowed them to dodge a bullet in actually passing this as law. Could you see the outcome from such legislation?
Their faith in God is only exceeded by their faith in the free hand of the market, and that does not make for good policy in the really real world.
